MNSBC guest Anand Giridharadas said on Monday that while some of the blame for Congress not passing meaningful COVID-19 relief for Americans lies on Democrats, most of the blame is on Republicans because they want the coronavirus to kill as many people as possible.
"I mean, the real blame here is Mitch McConnell, is the Republicans, is the president, is a party that does not want to help people, that is working on one side to actually make sure the pandemic kills as many people as possible. That seems to be the logical consequence of their policy. And then to make sure that all of the people who manage to survive it despite their policy suffer economically and beyond," Giridharadas said.
"But it is also the case that Democrats are not meeting this moment with the muscularity required. Even the rhetorical muscle required. Why aren’t we hearing thundering speeches from Joe Biden, from Pelosi, from Schumer, making this case in a way that bends public opinion, forces Republicans into a corner? This is not about Medicare for All right now. We’re not talking about sweeping social policy," he added.
Giridharadas' remarks come a week after Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) admitted that Democrats were the ones to block a clean COVID relief bill and are only considering passing such a measure now because Joe Biden has been declared the winner of the presidential election.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) agreed Democrats were the ones to have walked away from COVID relief proposals from the Trump administration.
"Here was a proposal, much, much larger. Democrats said, no, not good enough and now we are prepared to accept a proposal which has, I think, $350 billion in new money and which has, we believe, I believe to the best of my knowledge, corporate immunity language as well. So that is my point here is that I don’t think this is much of a compromise. I think the Republicans have probably gotten 90% of what they want. Our job is to fight and get a 50/50 deal," Sanders said.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member